Project UH

Project UH analyzes the role of the university in economic development, its economic contribution to the state, and conducts institutional research designed to improve the functioning of the education and research missions of the University of Hawaii.

The Economic Impact of the University of Hawai‘i System

April 16, 2013

Each dollar of State General Fund spending on UH translates into $9.61 of total business sales, $2.91 of employee earnings, and $0.52 of state taxes in Hawai‘i. For every dollar of state funds spent on UH, the university system was able to leverage an additional $4.90 of spending in the state.

The Contribution of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to Hawai‘i's Economy in 2012

January 15, 2013

The University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UHM) generates economic activity through its purchases from local businesses, its payment to its employees, and spending by students and visitors. This report estimates UHM’s total economic activity in the state of Hawai‘i in fiscal year 2012. Following a standard approach, we define economic impact to be the direct, indirect, and induced economic activities generated by the university’s spending in the state economy.

Overall, the $1.40 billion of education-related expenditures attributable to UHM generated $2.45 billion in local business sales, $735 million in employee earnings, $131 million in state tax revenues, and slightly under 20,000 jobs in Hawai‘i in FY2012. This represented approximately 3.4% of total jobs, 2.5% of worker earnings, and 2.2% of total state tax revenues.

Staffing Structure of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Peers, and Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities

July 18, 2012

This study examines staff support at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UHM) vis-à-vis its peer group (Peers) and all 4-year public Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities (DREU). More specifically, we compare the averages of the ratio of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to FTE faculty and FTE enrollment across the three groups; UHM, Peers, and DREU. We present results for the following support staff categories: executive, administrative, and managerial; other professional (support/service); technical and paraprofessional; clerical and secretarial; skilled crafts; and service/maintenance.

The Contribution of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to Hawai‘i’s Economy in 2007

March 13, 2009

State dollars will have varying degrees of mileage across institutions. As mentioned above, for every dollar of state money spent on the MÄnoa campus, UHM was able to leverage an additional $5.34 of spending in the state. A similar calculation was done for the UH system in 2003, and the UH system’s leverage was lower, estimated at $4.43 per state dollar. This suggests that the MÄnoa campus was able to leverage more spending off of state funds than the UH system was able to.

Staff Support at UH Manoa: A Comparative Analysis

February 7, 2007

This study provides a comparative analysis of the staff support at the University of Hawai’i at MÄnoa (UHM), its peer group (Peer), and all 4-year public Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities (DREU). To evaluate whether UHM is providing too little or too much staff support to students and faculty, we compare the ratio of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to FTE enrollment and the ratio of FTE staff to FTE faculty across the three groups of schools. In addition to aggregate staff comparisons, we also evaluate specific support staff categories: executive, administrative, and managerial; other professional (support/service); technical and paraprofessional; clerical and secretarial; skilled crafts; and service/maintenance.

Funding the University of Hawaii at Manoa

January 17, 2006

Of the 12 Universities in the UHM peer group, only Colorado State and the University of Virginia were more under-funded than UHM in FY 2001-02. In FY 2001-02, UHM was more under-funded than all but 14 universities.

State Financing of Research Universities: The Role of State and University Characteristics

February 19, 2006

This study estimates the effect of underlying determinants on state funding of Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities (DREU) in the U.S. Using panel data on 98 DREU over the period from 1987 to 2002, we estimate the effect of a variety of DREU and state characteristics while controlling for institutional level unobserved heterogeneity. Unlike previous studies, we focus solely on DREU, so our estimation results are driven by the within variation of DREU, not by the between variation across different types of universities and colleges. We consider determinants not previously studied such as the competitiveness of programs and quality of students, the mix of degree programs and professional schools, the degree of research orientation of a university, the effects of economies of scale (number of students), the cost of providing education services, and other state characteristics. Not surprisingly, we ï¬nd that these variables are important factors determining state funding of DREU. Finally, we provide four case studies to illustrate the use of our model in evaluating the funding position of various universities.

The Contribution of the University of Hawai‘i to Hawai‘i’s Economy in 2003

Overall, the $1.403 billion of education-related expenditures attributable to the UH system generated $1.973 billion in local business sales, $1.243 billion in employee earnings, $132 million in state tax revenues, and 35,800 jobs in Hawai‘i in FY 2003. They represented approximately 4.6 percent of total jobs, 3.2 percent of worker earnings, and 3.8 percent of total state tax revenues in the economy of Hawai‘i.